This invention relates to digital imaging, and more particularly to methodology which enables spontaneous, single-site invocation of an imaging job through a unique, combinational user interface that offers access to the respective native functionalities and controls of plural, currently available, networked, imaging instrumentalities. These instrumentalities, only a few representative ones of which are specifically discussed hereinbelow, take the form of walkup digital imaging devices in categories including a host computer (or host), a printer, a copier, a scanner, a facsimile machine, a multi-functional peripheral device, an electronic whiteboard, a document server, a CD or DVD burner, digital cameral and others.
When a user operates a digital imaging device, such as a multi-function peripheral (MFP) as a walkup operation (e.g., copy, scan, document server), use of the device for a hard- or soft-copy operation is limited to the controls exposed, and to the function provided, by the device.
Traditional control and operation from the front panel (e.g., control panel, operator's panel, etc.), and the functionality of an imaging device, such as an MFP device, has been limited to the controls exposed, for example, by the copier functionality contained within the device.
This level of utility is limiting, in that (1), one cannot exploit functionality provided by a companion host, and (2), one cannot perform new image rendering and sheet assembly operations without upgrading the device firmware and control panel.
A recent improvement to digital imaging devices involves the ability to open a device's front panel as a remote interface to a host-based process. In this approach, a host process communicates a user interface (such as in using a markup language) to an imaging device. The device displays the host's user interface (UI) on a touch panel screen through a touch panel controller. The touch panel controller then sends back responses (e.g., buttons depressed) to the host process. The imaging device makes no interpretations of the responses. That is, it merely acts as a remote UI. The host process then performs requested custom actions, which may include operating the digital imaging device remotely, such as in a network scan or print job.
This approach is still limiting in that (1) the controls are limited to controls pre-known by the host process, and (2) operation of the imaging device is limited to operations that can be controlled via the network interface.
Thus, there is a desire for an effective method to combine the control/functionality of a host and imaging devices for a walkup operation without the host or such a device having pre-known knowledge of the each other's controls/functionalities.
This invention discloses an effective method for a user to control an imaging device (or plural devices) through a touch panel user interface that combines each device's native controls/functionalities and a remote host's controls/functionalities. Such control may be made available to a user at the locations of all, or only some, of a collection of networked imaging devices.
The invention, for example, allows a user to perform a walkup hard/soft copy operation, and to select input, rendering and outputting settings based on, say, a copier's native functionality, and image preprocessing (i.e., between input and rendering process) based on a host's functionality.
According to the invention, a host process and each associated imaging device has an established bi-directional communication for operating a touch panel display (or an embedded web page). The host process sends to the device a host-specific control panel menu. The device process displays both the device's native menus and the host menu. The user selects input, rendering, assembly and outputting options from the device's native menus. The user can additionally select image preprocessing options from the host menu. Examples of image preprocessing options involving a host and a copier device are:                1. Changing the page order of images within a multi-page imaging job for sheet assembly not supported by the device.        2. Embedding a custom watermark not supported by the device.        3. Processing the image, such as half-toning and red-eye removal, in a manner that is not supported by the device.        
Once the user has selected the options and initiated a copy operation, the copier device does the following:                1. Inputs the document(s)/image(s) (e.g., hard-copy scan from document feeder) according to the input settings on the copier's native menus.        2. Converts the input into scanned image data (e.g., TIFF).        3. Sends the scanned image data and host menu settings to the host process.        4. The host process processes the scanned image data according to the host menu settings.        5. The host process sends back the processed scanned image data back to the copier.        6. The copier continues processing the host-processed scanned image data according to the remaining copier's native menu settings (e.g., rendering, assembly, outputting).        
All of the features and advantages offered by the methodology of the present invention will become more fully apparent as the description which now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.